Chris and Qualler's Top Songs Listulator
Monday, March 31, 2008
Top Songs of 2007 (#s 5-1)
Every year I plan on dedicating myself more to keeping these countdowns on track and every year something keeps me from it. I've now gone more than a month since writing my penultimate post. Pat has pestered me many times and I honestly don't know how I was able to write about a total of 95 songs evenly throughout two months (which totally tricked me into thinking I'd achieve my goal this year) and now have had this month-long hiatus before I finally get to writing about these five last songs. The only reason I can muster up is insufficient at best - these five personal and beautiful songs have affected me so deeply this past year that I have no idea how to linguistically emote how I feel about them. But no more excuses, no more procrastinating - here goes nothing:
02 "Soil, Soil" Tegan & Sara The Con [Sire]
05 "Wake Up, It's the Nineties" The New Trust Dark is the Path Which Lies Before Us [Slowdance]
"I really don't care who knows!"
Apart from a nebulous and very general interest in politics and the never-changing political landscape of this country, I can't say I feel “passionate” about many issues. This mostly stems from deep-rooted apathy and a substantial lack of faith in people of power ever doing anything that's not in their best interest, or in the interest of the set of ideologies they believe they should have. One issue, however, that for whatever reason has always completely maddened me in this country that views itself as inviting to people of all backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, and beliefs, is its downright hatred for the GLBT community. A piece of me feels awkward about implying political leanings on an otherwise neutral forum, but I feel I need to be honest as it relates directly to the song at hand. How does the birthplace of revered heroes of equalization between peoples like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln still manage to find a new (not to mention already subjugated) demographic to spit on with such blatant disregard? Have we learned nothing from our past? I'm sure this could be said for many other problems with this nation, but this one cuts me so deep because it seems the most plainly obvious to me, with no other reason to perpetuate it other than illogical and nonsensical beliefs originating in no kind of reality. As I step off my soapbox, I would like to simply point to the hilarious title of this driving and unyielding yearning anthem, which expresses my (and so many others') sympathies on the subject way more intellectually and personally than I ever could. As the highlighted lyric implies, the only thing that can be done is to give the powers that be the equal amount of blatant disregard as they are giving those they persecute, and hope some day some figure is lifted up to denounce the political hatred that is plaguing this community, and respect is given in return – I will not be at ease until everyone joins in the uprising.
04 "The Song is the Single" BARR Summary [5RC]
“Everyone knows that rock and roll is the language of night / but this got made in the day.”
I began with a stream of consciousness and I have a feeling I will end with it. I kept hundreds of ramblings and poems that I would write during classes, study hall, during long nights at the box office at work, during sick days sitting upright in my water bed (that was awkward and comfortable at the same time). The pages sometimes fell out, I found them later, taped them back in the little black books that I covered with magazine cut-outs – pictures of bands and frames from movies snipped outta Entertainment Weeklys, a subscription I got for Christmas one year. I'd think about rock and roll and I'd think about Quentin Tarantino and I'd be influenced and I'd just simply be attracted by the aesthetic, lost in wonder without ever analyzing. But I learned that part later – when I was older, and off on my own. It was a terrible time where I was lonely, only connected to people through cords and digital messages. I heard drums and bass and keys in my dreams as I slept with my guitar nearby. I missed my band, I missed how it all fit together, even when I yelled at them one day and drove off (it was raining, how very Cusack is that?) and then I cried on the side of the road. You see, the tears and the rain were quite symbolically similar. I sucked it up because I loved them, because the sweat I excreted when I was with them derived from the words I wrote in those little clips-covered black books – I tried to sing them through an amp, but I was never loud enough. How can one be loud enough with a voice when you're left speechless by being with these three guys. These three guys who compelled me to write more and more bad stream of consciousness poetry and write more and more too simple and uninformed guitar parts. At least I thought they were such, because I never really knew what I was doing. Kind of like when I was writing in those little black books. Weird: usually people call little black books the things they write girls' phone numbers in. I'm glad I didn't have girls' phone numbers in high school, because that would meant less time with the band. I should have written about them more in those books. There were worth more time than any of my pseudo-crushes. BARR brings me back to the basics. There we go again with the poorly-worded trite stream of consciousness.
03 "A Paw in My Face" The Field From Here We Go Sublime [Kompakt]
Moment @ 2:39
Here's the last Qualler and Brigitte's wedding song. I feel kind of bad about making sure DJ Pushkar from Radio K brought the CD (it was the only one he had with him, otherwise the rest of the night's playlist was stored digitally), also because neither Qualler nor Brigitte had even heard The Field at that point and it was their freaking wedding, but it was totally worth it nevertheless. Sure when the soft instrumental minimalist dance number faded up during the night's dance, everyone looked confused except Pat and I. Sure as its repetitive loops circled around and around the speakers seemingly going nowhere to the untrained ear, more and more people left the dance floor. Luckily, I had been prepared. Armed with glow sticks in my tuxedo jacket pocket, I grooved toward the mass of acquaintances and friends that were still going strong, giving the song a chance, and I handed them out to the beat, one by one. Thanks to another good friend Amy, we already had an array of props (wacky hats, feather boas, wands, etc.) to complement the swirling glow sticks. I told Pushkar to pump it up, imagined everyone in slow motion underwater, and by the time that incomparable moment (as noted above) made the song come to its apex, I had officially reached complete and utter nirvana. I don't know if I had ever been more content with my life than I was when that moment came – I looked up at the ceiling, pivoting my feet and my heart to the point of synchronizing both with the Swedish DJ's kick drum pulses. Everything around me dissolved into blurs and fuzzy shadows, and I experienced eternity inside two of the most glorious minutes of my time on this Earth. There were invisible lights that catapulted my body through the art museum's ceiling, dispelled the gravity from our atmosphere, put me at one with both the stars and the ocean floor, and calmed my soul to the point of sitting just atop my skin – the interior and exterior of my being coexisting as one. The blanket of our universe folded over during those two minutes of ecstatic musical bliss and I became my infant self, my current self, and my future death all at once. There was no time or space; no work or stress; there was only love.
02 "Soil, Soil" Tegan & Sara The Con [Sire]“And I won't take any other call.”
The best love songs are ones that communicate both the beaming positive aspects and quivering negative aspects of being in a relationship. It feels one-sided and empty to only pour one's heart out in a single denial-soaked direction. I am beyond lucky that I am in love and have been for a while now, and while I of course have reservations about professing it once again on this otherwise neutral forum, I feel I must for the sake of the song. This is where T&S hit me, and it does nobody any favors to sugar coat it, censor it, or edit it for the sake of keeping people from gagging in response to lovey-doveyness. Because this isn't your average lovey-doveyness. This is the cold hard truth of desperately loving another person. Let's get the obvious out of the way: Jessica, if you read this, my heart wobbles – almost explodes if it weren't for your love equalizing it – when I listen to this song by my lonesome and have your beautiful face lingering in my head. This is not where this song ends, however, regardless of its minute-and-37-seconds running time. There are tremendous amounts of touching love songs that I have put on mix CDs for you with only you in mind, but never has a song so truthfully expressed the rainbow of emotions we go through together, hand in hand, since the song we call ours (“Consequence” by The Notwist). From the months you spent away in Florida as I awaited your return in Minnesota, only having your voice on the phone and the letters you sent in the mail to grab hold of, to the nights we spend apart while you dedicate your life to helping women in need by learning law and volunteering at an outreach center, to the times we are able to spend together and miscommunicate to the point of yelling and pretending to ignore each other. All of those lonely and dark times we spend apart and together do us some vicious harm at the time. It feels like we're at the bottom, curled up on the floor with a wall between us, but when I remember the good times...when I remember your laugh or your energy...your confidence or your strength...or your warm tangible arms holding my face...all you need to say is “talk to me.” I come out from my wallowing, from my shut down mode, deleting the distance between us, and I say your name – because I know you're there waiting for me. And I will always be there waiting for you. Some day I hope we can dance together to this song in fancy clothes, with our friends all around us, and overcoming the delicate brokenness that invades our lives every day. Because it is from dirt that we come, and it will be dirt to which we return – I want to spend these days away from the soil only and everlastingly with you.
01 "All My Friends" LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver [DFA/Capitol]
“If I could see all my friends tonight.”
I can't imagine how terrible it looks to put another song above the one that I dedicate to Jessica. If I could give two songs the number 1 spot, I would. In the end, I felt this was most important to put at the top of the hundreds (possible thousands?) of 2007 songs that I listened to this year because my relationship with Jessica isn't just about love – it's also about undying and unequivocal friendship. Not only this, but my friends also play an integral part in my well-being and eternal happiness. For me, breaking up with a close friend (which usually just means growing apart for many) rivals breaking up with a girlfriend or boyfriend. I can't imagine ever letting go of the people I have bonded with since I considered myself mature enough to have a long-lasting friendship (for me, I think this was anyone that had a deep effect on me from 5th grade onward). While never a crazed LCD fanatic by any means, this song so perfectly embodies everything that is going on between my close friends and I (as well as several other pre-adults I assume, as this song as landed at the top of so many year-end lists) that I really didn't mind that this year's #1 song didn't come from an artist I had already considered myself a huge fan of, as it usually has in the past. [Pause] As I take a break from writing this description to browse the lyrics of the song for a lyric to place atop this passage, an epiphany suddenly hits me so hard I almost feel the rest of my body magnetized to my heart. Having listened to this song dozens of times already, the instant I looked at the lyrics, I immediately remembered what had been the most important line for me. Every time this song's outro squeals to its dissipating halt and James Murphy coarsely screams it atop the agitating piano and skittering percussion, my body breaks down and at least one tear escapes my eye socket before I can regain composure. Whenever I think of them (and you should know who you are if you're reading this, plus there's way too many to list here, plus listing isn't what this is about – ironically enough), I so desperately want them to be near me that I violently curse the hundreds of miles of freeway the keep us apart for the majority of every year. One Saturday evening in particular that I had spent alone in a fit of “I want to be alone” brought me to a crying fit of temper tantrum proportions, as I realized I wanted to be anything but alone. I wished so much that I could have all of my friends in one place – their ridiculously hilarious jokes and irreverent carefree attitudes comforting me at that very moment before I descended into another night of depressing sleep. It's not just that we have a good time when we're together, it's that the innumerable amount of good times together (cue me wishing we had been keeping up with the 5,643 Stuffs list – or whatever the number was) have amassed a balloon of love and respect that we have for each other that we don't even need to express with words to each other. It just is – and it just stays that way, waiting for the next time we can be together again, like no time has passed at all. Maybe those were the day, or maybe those days just simply have to settle for being far and few between as we grow up, grow apart as adults, but stay together at heart – ensuring we keep piling on the good times when we can afford to book that plane ticket to fill up that gas tank. Oh but I said there was an epiphany somewhere in here – because all this is old news that I just needed to document. The epiphany is this – I haven't completed this list until now – and tonight I actually do get to see my friends. As I close up this computer after I press “Publish Post” I'll be on my way to Chicago to see two of my best friends in the whole world – and I have already dedicated a portion of my Spring Break to seeing three other really good friends of mine. This is fate – this is why unintended hiatuses happen sometimes. And I plan to make sure I see the rest of you sooner rather than later. I love you all – please stay just the way you've always been.
¶ posted by chris at 1:24 PM 3 comments
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Top Songs of 2007 (#s 10-6)
10 "Beyond the Dying Light" God is an Astronaut Far From Refuge [Revive]
Moment @ 1:18
The only instrumental post-rock song in the top ten and it's all the way at the bottom. Unusual for me, but I don't like to focus on the negative in this space. This song packs the most wallop out of all the great instrumental post-rock that I've listened to for nowlikephotographs in the past year, no contest. I may be repeating myself, but it might just be that my favorite kind of song (regardless of genre) is capable of conveying epic sadness and still be powerfully melodic and lively. This song fulfills those prerequisites without flinching. Every transition feels like I could crumble to the floor on my knees and acquiesce to the wonder of life just as easily as it inspires confidence and strength in me to leave my proverbial stoop and face the day - and destroy it mercilessly. Not only this, but every sound is meticulously crafted and melded together exquisitely - it's very otherworldly and spacey (hence the band's apt nomenclature) but still organic, as if a song could live, breathe, and dominate aside its human creators. Keys wobble ferociously through precisely e-bowed guitars and crisp percussion as it walks through a simplistic journey that's been told before, but never with this much sheer volume and intensity. And yet, as mentioned, it's all controlled elegantly by this unknown outside force, making it equal parts fictionally cinematic and based in reality.
09 "Is There a Ghost" Band of Horses Cease to Begin [Sub Pop]
"I could sleep."
This might be as big as minimalism gets. I remember the first time I heard Idlewild's 100 Broken Windows and thought, "Hey, he's just singing the same lyric over and over." The more I listened, the harder it me..."Hey, he's singing the same lyric over and over!" The more I heard it, the more I understood it. Language is great and everything, but as my instrumental inclinations might indicate, almost always the trite (your fault, language!) phrase "less is more" rings true. As every inch of this song unfolds, not much changes and nothing terribly complicated arises to twist the song around surprisingly, but this is what is so affecting. Loneliness (or the fear of never being truly alone) is never an intricate series of connections and deep realizations. It simply is. Constant worry. Dread. Focusing on one aspect of life and never letting yourself let go. It gets louder, it gets deeper, it gets said a million times - in your head, on paper, on a voicemail message. But never ever does it go away. Until you cut yourself off. This is the only way the haunting dissipates. While you may never be alone with your loneliness, you can get yourself together with silence, ending, stop. It's not a conclusion, but it's a chance to breathe. Now sleep. If you can.
08 "Muscle'n Flo" Menomena Friend and Foe [Barsuk]
"Well I'm not young / but I'm not through."
It's impossible to even start writing about this song while listening to it. I can't stop closing my eyes and belting out the me vs. the world lyrics so loud that my neighbors might start complaining. Seriously, google the lyrics, sing out for four minutes with brazen confidence and you'll feel ready to take on anything or anyone afterward, including (but not limited to) the universe. What's even better is that this song is cemented proof that Menomena are the masters of stopping and starting instrumentation for the maximum possible effect (both emotionally and aurally). The doubly-layered drums hiccup through the right and left channels, then the frenetic bass hops around uncontrollably, then the cautious slide guitar slinks in for a brief spotlight, followed graciously by a chirping piano tickle, and finally joined all together by the crunchiest guitar that ever still sounded pretty and masterful in it sloppiness. But wait, what's this? An entirely new set-up of hymnal organ and sexy baritone sax! Praising and getting horny have never gone together so well before. The return of the off-kilter percussion and sparkling piano only sound more welcoming the second time, along with the march-of-thousands final chorus bringing back the firm but sporadic guitar. Never has a song been so easy and fun to dissect instrument by instrument and also served as a perfect escapist shout-along.
07 "Mapped By What Surrounded Them" The Twilight Sad Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters [FatCat]
"She's cut herself with stained-glass window."
An abstract and emblematic horror story in song. It's about time. Frightening imagery is usually something left to the metalheads and industrial kids, so I'm glad I don't have to give up beautiful sounds to hear disturbing stories of blood and ghosts in my music anymore. If I could choose a guitar loop to soundtrack my funeral right now it would probably the one present at this song's opening. It replays like a reliable shoulder to cry on underneath the blended loud ambience and pummeling drums, and every few measures you can grab an aural glimpse of it, and it's so satisfying every time you do. Perhaps even more satisfying, however, is latching onto the buried and shaken narrative that singer James Graham lets exude out of him reluctantly but powerfully. A mysterious past lies within a house where the spirit of a young girl (and the memory of her death) pervades the life of our narrator until his world falls down around him, as does the instrumentation. Suddenly he's escaped the violence that came with the distortion, he's back in the primrose garden, walking around in circles - yes, but attached to a feeling in his past he will never let go until he gets her back. When he calls out to watch Emily dance just one more time, a voice is sunken below trying to convince him he's already gotten the only joys he ever will have of her. His only choice is to let the static envelop him as he dies fighting for that which he will never have. As we all do, just a little bit, every time we cry at a nostalgic picture from long ago.
06 "Deserter" Matthew Dear Asa Breed [Ghostly International]
"Just keep on searching / And I'll be uncertain"
The only low-key sleeper of this stallion group of five. And of course it's closest to the top. This song is so intimate that I almost feel like it shouldn't ever ever be in the "Dance" section at any record store. It felt dirty and deeply wrong when I found it that way a few months ago. This is electronic music for you and you alone. Not a room full of people having fun. Not to say it's depressing. It's actually remarkably positive for a song about losing track of your life. It has this warm and bubbly air about it, full of blips that inject your heart rather than your ears, that is infective beyond reproach. More so than this, however, is the steady rhythm section that puts me in a motionless trance (much emphasis goes to the word "motionless") almost immediately when this song begins. It's so relaxing and calming that while other songs on this list I've praised for lifting me up out of my body, this song brings me down so low to the ground that my entire presence is located around my ankles and the floor. I feel so tiny and minuscule, but in a completely satisfying way. When I feel this small and insignificant, I feel most at peace with myself, my life, and my surroundings. I've taken beatings through the blaring noise of life for so many years that I just want to appreciate the view and leave the answers for later, because where they will always be - in the future.
Next week: the final five. ¶ posted by chris at 4:45 PM 3 comments
10 "Beyond the Dying Light" God is an Astronaut Far From Refuge [Revive]Moment @ 1:18
The only instrumental post-rock song in the top ten and it's all the way at the bottom. Unusual for me, but I don't like to focus on the negative in this space. This song packs the most wallop out of all the great instrumental post-rock that I've listened to for nowlikephotographs in the past year, no contest. I may be repeating myself, but it might just be that my favorite kind of song (regardless of genre) is capable of conveying epic sadness and still be powerfully melodic and lively. This song fulfills those prerequisites without flinching. Every transition feels like I could crumble to the floor on my knees and acquiesce to the wonder of life just as easily as it inspires confidence and strength in me to leave my proverbial stoop and face the day - and destroy it mercilessly. Not only this, but every sound is meticulously crafted and melded together exquisitely - it's very otherworldly and spacey (hence the band's apt nomenclature) but still organic, as if a song could live, breathe, and dominate aside its human creators. Keys wobble ferociously through precisely e-bowed guitars and crisp percussion as it walks through a simplistic journey that's been told before, but never with this much sheer volume and intensity. And yet, as mentioned, it's all controlled elegantly by this unknown outside force, making it equal parts fictionally cinematic and based in reality.
09 "Is There a Ghost" Band of Horses Cease to Begin [Sub Pop]"I could sleep."
This might be as big as minimalism gets. I remember the first time I heard Idlewild's 100 Broken Windows and thought, "Hey, he's just singing the same lyric over and over." The more I listened, the harder it me..."Hey, he's singing the same lyric over and over!" The more I heard it, the more I understood it. Language is great and everything, but as my instrumental inclinations might indicate, almost always the trite (your fault, language!) phrase "less is more" rings true. As every inch of this song unfolds, not much changes and nothing terribly complicated arises to twist the song around surprisingly, but this is what is so affecting. Loneliness (or the fear of never being truly alone) is never an intricate series of connections and deep realizations. It simply is. Constant worry. Dread. Focusing on one aspect of life and never letting yourself let go. It gets louder, it gets deeper, it gets said a million times - in your head, on paper, on a voicemail message. But never ever does it go away. Until you cut yourself off. This is the only way the haunting dissipates. While you may never be alone with your loneliness, you can get yourself together with silence, ending, stop. It's not a conclusion, but it's a chance to breathe. Now sleep. If you can.
08 "Muscle'n Flo" Menomena Friend and Foe [Barsuk]"Well I'm not young / but I'm not through."
It's impossible to even start writing about this song while listening to it. I can't stop closing my eyes and belting out the me vs. the world lyrics so loud that my neighbors might start complaining. Seriously, google the lyrics, sing out for four minutes with brazen confidence and you'll feel ready to take on anything or anyone afterward, including (but not limited to) the universe. What's even better is that this song is cemented proof that Menomena are the masters of stopping and starting instrumentation for the maximum possible effect (both emotionally and aurally). The doubly-layered drums hiccup through the right and left channels, then the frenetic bass hops around uncontrollably, then the cautious slide guitar slinks in for a brief spotlight, followed graciously by a chirping piano tickle, and finally joined all together by the crunchiest guitar that ever still sounded pretty and masterful in it sloppiness. But wait, what's this? An entirely new set-up of hymnal organ and sexy baritone sax! Praising and getting horny have never gone together so well before. The return of the off-kilter percussion and sparkling piano only sound more welcoming the second time, along with the march-of-thousands final chorus bringing back the firm but sporadic guitar. Never has a song been so easy and fun to dissect instrument by instrument and also served as a perfect escapist shout-along.
07 "Mapped By What Surrounded Them" The Twilight Sad Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters [FatCat]"She's cut herself with stained-glass window."
An abstract and emblematic horror story in song. It's about time. Frightening imagery is usually something left to the metalheads and industrial kids, so I'm glad I don't have to give up beautiful sounds to hear disturbing stories of blood and ghosts in my music anymore. If I could choose a guitar loop to soundtrack my funeral right now it would probably the one present at this song's opening. It replays like a reliable shoulder to cry on underneath the blended loud ambience and pummeling drums, and every few measures you can grab an aural glimpse of it, and it's so satisfying every time you do. Perhaps even more satisfying, however, is latching onto the buried and shaken narrative that singer James Graham lets exude out of him reluctantly but powerfully. A mysterious past lies within a house where the spirit of a young girl (and the memory of her death) pervades the life of our narrator until his world falls down around him, as does the instrumentation. Suddenly he's escaped the violence that came with the distortion, he's back in the primrose garden, walking around in circles - yes, but attached to a feeling in his past he will never let go until he gets her back. When he calls out to watch Emily dance just one more time, a voice is sunken below trying to convince him he's already gotten the only joys he ever will have of her. His only choice is to let the static envelop him as he dies fighting for that which he will never have. As we all do, just a little bit, every time we cry at a nostalgic picture from long ago.
06 "Deserter" Matthew Dear Asa Breed [Ghostly International]"Just keep on searching / And I'll be uncertain"
The only low-key sleeper of this stallion group of five. And of course it's closest to the top. This song is so intimate that I almost feel like it shouldn't ever ever be in the "Dance" section at any record store. It felt dirty and deeply wrong when I found it that way a few months ago. This is electronic music for you and you alone. Not a room full of people having fun. Not to say it's depressing. It's actually remarkably positive for a song about losing track of your life. It has this warm and bubbly air about it, full of blips that inject your heart rather than your ears, that is infective beyond reproach. More so than this, however, is the steady rhythm section that puts me in a motionless trance (much emphasis goes to the word "motionless") almost immediately when this song begins. It's so relaxing and calming that while other songs on this list I've praised for lifting me up out of my body, this song brings me down so low to the ground that my entire presence is located around my ankles and the floor. I feel so tiny and minuscule, but in a completely satisfying way. When I feel this small and insignificant, I feel most at peace with myself, my life, and my surroundings. I've taken beatings through the blaring noise of life for so many years that I just want to appreciate the view and leave the answers for later, because where they will always be - in the future.
Next week: the final five. ¶ posted by chris at 4:45 PM 3 comments
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Top Songs of 2007 (#s 15-11)
15 "Pull Shapes" The Pipettes We Are the Pipettes [Interscope]
"There's a whole floor before us, just for you and me."
It's starting to be a trend. Every year there's a song that reminds me of one of my bestest friends, Patrick Arthur. He's the only one who comments on these posts, so it makes sense that he's the only friend that gets "his own song" on the countdown. But "Pull Shapes" is not just a reminder of him, I literally cannot think of anything other than how much I unabashedly love this man when I hear this song. And it's not even his favorite Pipettes song! And while this whole album may not be one of my favorites of 2007, most certainly my favorite music discussion of the year was between Pat and I as we went through this record track by track, rating each song, entering into a discourse regarding each melody, each Pipette (regarding both their hotness levels and vocal presence in the group, okay so mostly hotness levels), etc. But it all comes back to this song, because of our constant "Pull Shapes" vs. "Your Kisses are Wasted on Me" debates, plus I was the one who got the DJ at Qualler's wedding to download this song so he could play it and Pat and I danced our hearts out together as it blasted through the speakers, playing air violin during the outro freakout and ending the song with a giant hug. Damn, P. Arty, you got me all bleary-eyed.
14 "Falling Slowly" Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova Once: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Columbia]
"We've still got time."
So Pat gets a song, and now so do the movies. Jessica will get her song later in the countdown to prove my heterosexuality (as one must in this day and age when confessing a deep but platonic bromance of any magnitude). But first, 2007's greatest movie and most definitely my favorite musical of all time jumps up to #14 on the list, the highest a soundtrack song has made it since 2003's "Phone Call" by Jon Brion, from the Eternal Sunshine... soundtrack, which was my #1 song that year. I've always gotta have that song from a film that makes me sink into my seat in the theater, feel affectation take over in digital surround sound, and just totally lose myself into a puddle of a gooey despair/joy mixture, and many songs from Once did this for me, but predictably the track that brings the two romantic leads together is the one that hit me the hardest. But it's not just that it's when the two finally "connect" in the film, it's that they're connecting because of the music! It's so insanely beautiful that finally a musical has not only used its music in a very literal and neo-realist (read: NOT Hollywood) manner, but that the lyrics to said song have nothing to do with what's going on in the moment. They are vague and mysterious, leading us to what may happen down the line, but what's more important is the priceless melody that is keeping them together in that music shop, singing and loving the act of playing together.
13 "Rugla" Amiina Kurr [Ever]
Moment @ 2:28
There's a reason that these women are Sigur Ros's backing band. They practice restraint when Sigur Ros cannot. They exemplify playfulness when Sigur Ros cannot. They somehow strike the perfect balance between restfulness and crowdedness. This may sound crazy, but have you ever felt your sense of self float out of your body? Kind of like a spiritual experience, but more mental or psychological? I'm well aware no part of my essence actually removed itself from my skin and bones when I saw this song performed live in the austere environment of a still Varsity Theater, but I swear that I felt the world's gravity disseminate from my mind, allowing muscles to relax I never knew I had. The inner workings of this song's clean electric guitar, shiny keyboard, and tension building string section all folded into each other, creating a dense weaving of fibers that dug their way into my stress-filled head, collided with my brain tissue, and ever so gently pulled (much like a filter through a pool drain) through my being and the end result was a sense of clarity undefinable by the English language. As the Icelandic murmurs and quivering saw lead me through the song's final act, I had never felt so removed from the cage that is the human body before in my life. It was more transcendent, it was the beginning of a new life right before my ears.
12 "Lump Sum" Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago [Self-Released]
"We will see when it gets warm."
Turns out ghosts do make music. There's few songs where I can still honestly hear for the first time and say they had something in their sonic palette that I had never heard before. "Lump Sum" is one of only two songs I heard for the first time in 2007 (the other song is in the top 5 of this countdown, stay tuned) where I seriously sat back, took a deep breath, and thought to myself, "what in bloody hell is that?" The man doesn't just layer his soft acoustic drama-wrought anti-ballads, he slices slabs of crusted ice and melted souls through one another until they create a patterned yet chaotic collage of a semblance of undead music. The more noticeable half of this song is a driving, tapping, and brushing percussion topped with a start-and-stop suspenseful acoustic wrangling - this is the part where the human runs away for his life in an out-of-focus, color-drained shot on a hand-held camera. The other half of this song glides and cuts through the aforementioned portion with blood-red eyes and a frosty sheen, sterile ambience piled upon feral forest noises, slowly encapsulating the human without him/her ever knowing that it was gaining on them. Listened to loud enough, it becomes both frightening and deathly powerful - leaving us in a shocked and sullen state all at once, feeling left alone in the snow - whether it was an outside force or ourselves that put us there we may never know.
11 "Oh Be One" Oh No! Oh My! Between the Devil and the Sea [Dim Mak]
"Yes, you are my only hope."
No, I am not nor have I ever been "obsessed" with Star Wars. This does not change the fact that I did cuddle up under the blankets of a fort when I was little and watch the first A New Hope at least a couple times, feeling the pain of Luke - so forced into all that ruckus so fast and with so many expectations. All he wanted was his Uncle Ben to help guide him through this painful process of becoming himself, and he couldn't even have that. Sure, it turned out to be for the better in the long run, but oh how I could feel for that kind of suffering of lacking the hope when hope was the only thing that could keep you going, especially as a child. The cherubic smallness of this song reverts me back to a time when I couldn't reach the counter, when I couldn't fathom pain enough to talk through my problems (only throw a temper until I felt better), when I couldn't do much of anything but strive to develop. It's remarkably unsettling how vividly these feelings come back as I enter adulthood, thrown away from being the educated and now into being the educator, tossed aside from my family base in Midwest as they set up new roots on the East Coast - as if now it's my turn to set up roots on my own. Where is my only hope? Sometimes it feels like it's not there, but I can only repeat the refrain, calling for my Obi Wan: "you're my only hope." Luckily, on the right days, along with the right people, my Obi Wan does answer and gets me through many a sleepless night full of wonder and unknown.
Next week: #s 10-6 of the Top 50 Songs of 2007.
¶ posted by chris at 5:39 PM 3 comments
15 "Pull Shapes" The Pipettes We Are the Pipettes [Interscope]"There's a whole floor before us, just for you and me."
It's starting to be a trend. Every year there's a song that reminds me of one of my bestest friends, Patrick Arthur. He's the only one who comments on these posts, so it makes sense that he's the only friend that gets "his own song" on the countdown. But "Pull Shapes" is not just a reminder of him, I literally cannot think of anything other than how much I unabashedly love this man when I hear this song. And it's not even his favorite Pipettes song! And while this whole album may not be one of my favorites of 2007, most certainly my favorite music discussion of the year was between Pat and I as we went through this record track by track, rating each song, entering into a discourse regarding each melody, each Pipette (regarding both their hotness levels and vocal presence in the group, okay so mostly hotness levels), etc. But it all comes back to this song, because of our constant "Pull Shapes" vs. "Your Kisses are Wasted on Me" debates, plus I was the one who got the DJ at Qualler's wedding to download this song so he could play it and Pat and I danced our hearts out together as it blasted through the speakers, playing air violin during the outro freakout and ending the song with a giant hug. Damn, P. Arty, you got me all bleary-eyed.
14 "Falling Slowly" Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova Once: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Columbia]"We've still got time."
So Pat gets a song, and now so do the movies. Jessica will get her song later in the countdown to prove my heterosexuality (as one must in this day and age when confessing a deep but platonic bromance of any magnitude). But first, 2007's greatest movie and most definitely my favorite musical of all time jumps up to #14 on the list, the highest a soundtrack song has made it since 2003's "Phone Call" by Jon Brion, from the Eternal Sunshine... soundtrack, which was my #1 song that year. I've always gotta have that song from a film that makes me sink into my seat in the theater, feel affectation take over in digital surround sound, and just totally lose myself into a puddle of a gooey despair/joy mixture, and many songs from Once did this for me, but predictably the track that brings the two romantic leads together is the one that hit me the hardest. But it's not just that it's when the two finally "connect" in the film, it's that they're connecting because of the music! It's so insanely beautiful that finally a musical has not only used its music in a very literal and neo-realist (read: NOT Hollywood) manner, but that the lyrics to said song have nothing to do with what's going on in the moment. They are vague and mysterious, leading us to what may happen down the line, but what's more important is the priceless melody that is keeping them together in that music shop, singing and loving the act of playing together.
13 "Rugla" Amiina Kurr [Ever]Moment @ 2:28
There's a reason that these women are Sigur Ros's backing band. They practice restraint when Sigur Ros cannot. They exemplify playfulness when Sigur Ros cannot. They somehow strike the perfect balance between restfulness and crowdedness. This may sound crazy, but have you ever felt your sense of self float out of your body? Kind of like a spiritual experience, but more mental or psychological? I'm well aware no part of my essence actually removed itself from my skin and bones when I saw this song performed live in the austere environment of a still Varsity Theater, but I swear that I felt the world's gravity disseminate from my mind, allowing muscles to relax I never knew I had. The inner workings of this song's clean electric guitar, shiny keyboard, and tension building string section all folded into each other, creating a dense weaving of fibers that dug their way into my stress-filled head, collided with my brain tissue, and ever so gently pulled (much like a filter through a pool drain) through my being and the end result was a sense of clarity undefinable by the English language. As the Icelandic murmurs and quivering saw lead me through the song's final act, I had never felt so removed from the cage that is the human body before in my life. It was more transcendent, it was the beginning of a new life right before my ears.
12 "Lump Sum" Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago [Self-Released]"We will see when it gets warm."
Turns out ghosts do make music. There's few songs where I can still honestly hear for the first time and say they had something in their sonic palette that I had never heard before. "Lump Sum" is one of only two songs I heard for the first time in 2007 (the other song is in the top 5 of this countdown, stay tuned) where I seriously sat back, took a deep breath, and thought to myself, "what in bloody hell is that?" The man doesn't just layer his soft acoustic drama-wrought anti-ballads, he slices slabs of crusted ice and melted souls through one another until they create a patterned yet chaotic collage of a semblance of undead music. The more noticeable half of this song is a driving, tapping, and brushing percussion topped with a start-and-stop suspenseful acoustic wrangling - this is the part where the human runs away for his life in an out-of-focus, color-drained shot on a hand-held camera. The other half of this song glides and cuts through the aforementioned portion with blood-red eyes and a frosty sheen, sterile ambience piled upon feral forest noises, slowly encapsulating the human without him/her ever knowing that it was gaining on them. Listened to loud enough, it becomes both frightening and deathly powerful - leaving us in a shocked and sullen state all at once, feeling left alone in the snow - whether it was an outside force or ourselves that put us there we may never know.
11 "Oh Be One" Oh No! Oh My! Between the Devil and the Sea [Dim Mak]"Yes, you are my only hope."
No, I am not nor have I ever been "obsessed" with Star Wars. This does not change the fact that I did cuddle up under the blankets of a fort when I was little and watch the first A New Hope at least a couple times, feeling the pain of Luke - so forced into all that ruckus so fast and with so many expectations. All he wanted was his Uncle Ben to help guide him through this painful process of becoming himself, and he couldn't even have that. Sure, it turned out to be for the better in the long run, but oh how I could feel for that kind of suffering of lacking the hope when hope was the only thing that could keep you going, especially as a child. The cherubic smallness of this song reverts me back to a time when I couldn't reach the counter, when I couldn't fathom pain enough to talk through my problems (only throw a temper until I felt better), when I couldn't do much of anything but strive to develop. It's remarkably unsettling how vividly these feelings come back as I enter adulthood, thrown away from being the educated and now into being the educator, tossed aside from my family base in Midwest as they set up new roots on the East Coast - as if now it's my turn to set up roots on my own. Where is my only hope? Sometimes it feels like it's not there, but I can only repeat the refrain, calling for my Obi Wan: "you're my only hope." Luckily, on the right days, along with the right people, my Obi Wan does answer and gets me through many a sleepless night full of wonder and unknown.
Next week: #s 10-6 of the Top 50 Songs of 2007.
¶ posted by chris at 5:39 PM 3 comments
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Top 50 Songs of 2007 (#s 20-16)
20 "Apartment Story" The National Boxer [Beggars Banquet]
"I'm getting tired / I'm forgetting why"
The whitest band you know. Upon first listen, this sounds like the definition of music for cubicle weary suburban white people. It's sad, but not too sad. Interesting, but not too interesting. But just as your everyman, who from an outside perspective seems like they have a comfortably boring life, needs to inject some adrenaline and spontaneity into his/her life, they also need to crawl deep inside something familiar from time to time. This song defines that feeling to me. The stress that consumes me and separates me from the realization that I have it better than so many other people stays real and absurd when I listen to this song. The mumbling middle class ruins everything for themselves, waiting for it only to get ruined further, but it never does. We follow mindlessly rushing away our lives, until we feel our hearts burst into our throats in the final chorus and we finally get it kicked into our head violently (and how necessary that modifier is) to make us slow down, calm down, and stay inside for one more moment of clarity. Then we better the face the real day, without perfectly produced melodies and guitar apexes.
19 "Smother + Evil = Hurt" The Kissaway Trail The Kissaway Trail [Bella Union]
"A thought less is a thought more needed."
I imagine our protagonist regaining consciousness on a boardwalk, a cut on his upper lip. He wipes the salty sleep from his tired eyes, shakes the past from his weathered hair, and rises triumphantly. In his peripheral, a boy's golden balloon slips from its owner's frail hands, and like the clouds capture the latex sphere, our protagonist is magnetically pushed toward the sea, which is still tame in the morning light. Just as his feet splash into the water and it looks as if he's about to let the ocean envelop him and take him away, he cuts a 90-degree angle and marches through the beach front, the camera turning with our protagonist, revealing a chorus of angels walking in unison with him, determined and hopeful. We can only see profiles, as if they have been beaten down to halves of once whole beings, divine or otherwise. As the stroll gets longer, our protagonist and the angels become more awake, seemingly gathering energy from their endeavor, never exhausting themselves. Our protagonist stops, sees something we cannot. He falls to his knees. The angels surround him, closing in him more with each note surpassing the group overhead. Our protagonist struggles with what will surely be his final decision in his life, but we know not what this decision is. Tears well up in his face, the angels dissemble in even flow, and he might never know if what he did was indeed the right thing. We never do.
18 "Leyendecker" Battles Mirrored [Warp]
Moment @ 0:42
I like this record. I don't love it. It's fun to listen to and will mess with your head in the best way experimental melodic music can, but it never reaches down deep into your head or heart. It's more concerned with robotics than humanity, and I can't even fully support that. This track, however, was lifted into the light for me to see courtesy of a rap remix that I don't particularly like, but at least it brought Battles into a human tint for me. Ortiz raps on top of the creepy snaking guitar and awkward beat, "I don't know what you call this, hip hop, rock, I just know it feel good...and it's New York." I've only been to NYC once (a year ago), but I couldn't agree more. And it's not just that the place is awkward, creepy and snaking, and I am constantly worried about what's coming up next when I'm there, suffocated, and belittled by architecture. No, I also feel a profound appreciation for the behemoth city when I'm there - something that I know only become strengthened when you reside there, as a few of my close friends can attest to. It slides under your skin, becomes a part of you and your identity, it's unlike anything else ever created by man, to the point where you wonder if the city is living on its own, ready to attack or be your guiding light depending on its mood, your mood, and your neighbor's mood on any given day. It's surreal and still connected to me like living tissue.
17 "Sad Song" Au Revoir Simone The Bird of Music [Our Secret]
"I want to remember the places that we left."
I hate it when unassuming songs with just a tinge of distinct personality ultimately come out flat and uninspired. With just a few tweaks on the melody, that's what could have happened with this song. And that's what makes it that much more powerful. It crawls into your ears with a beautiful set of layered keyboards and lilting multi-girl vocals, just soothing enough to calm you down, but as it approaches the chorus, it melts your torso into oblivion, reminding you of the power of suppression versus melodrama. There's nothing chaotic or exorbitant about this song, it's just pinched and perfected enough to make for the best song you could forget about so easily if you don't a) listen to the lyrics, b) watch the accompanying music video - link above, or c) listen on headphones absurdly loud. Plus you better catch those synthesized horns at the end, or David Lynch (the band's supposed #1 fan) will never dance with you. You know you want to hear a sad song, because we're all alone at various points in our lives, leaving only our memories to work in filling our minds. This song makes sure you can do that and still have a solitaire rock out party. Get your sad on.
16 "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" Okkervil River The Stage Names [Jagjaguwar]
"She glows just like grain on the flickering pane of some great movie."
Okay, so I'm taking that quote out of context. He's talking about how there's no scene like that in the epic non-movie that is our life. But it's just my personal favorite of a ridiculous number of exquisitely crafted cinematic couplets. This is without a doubt the best lyrically written song of the year, with depressed passion, inescapable romanticism, desperate longing, and all at the cost of compulsively shredding vocal chords along the way. It's a harsh realization, waking up and realizing the lack of filmic qualities in our day-to-day anti-conflicts, fake resolutions, and bitter and regret-filled character developments. This isn't exactly the subtle understatement that is usually lauded for its simplicity and not needing hordes of attention called upon it, but it's the sound of a band not softly or silently walking away from or into a life they begrudgingly accept. No, this is the sound of hostile takeover by a crowd of youthful mavericks, refusing to see the light of day be extinguished by placidity. There must be a fight for that which does not exist. If we don't make a sound, how will we ever be heard? It's not about change, it's about calling out for it, even at the dimmest possibility of insurrection and climactic glory.
Next week: #s 15-11.
¶ posted by chris at 5:08 PM 2 comments
20 "Apartment Story" The National Boxer [Beggars Banquet]"I'm getting tired / I'm forgetting why"
The whitest band you know. Upon first listen, this sounds like the definition of music for cubicle weary suburban white people. It's sad, but not too sad. Interesting, but not too interesting. But just as your everyman, who from an outside perspective seems like they have a comfortably boring life, needs to inject some adrenaline and spontaneity into his/her life, they also need to crawl deep inside something familiar from time to time. This song defines that feeling to me. The stress that consumes me and separates me from the realization that I have it better than so many other people stays real and absurd when I listen to this song. The mumbling middle class ruins everything for themselves, waiting for it only to get ruined further, but it never does. We follow mindlessly rushing away our lives, until we feel our hearts burst into our throats in the final chorus and we finally get it kicked into our head violently (and how necessary that modifier is) to make us slow down, calm down, and stay inside for one more moment of clarity. Then we better the face the real day, without perfectly produced melodies and guitar apexes.
19 "Smother + Evil = Hurt" The Kissaway Trail The Kissaway Trail [Bella Union]"A thought less is a thought more needed."
I imagine our protagonist regaining consciousness on a boardwalk, a cut on his upper lip. He wipes the salty sleep from his tired eyes, shakes the past from his weathered hair, and rises triumphantly. In his peripheral, a boy's golden balloon slips from its owner's frail hands, and like the clouds capture the latex sphere, our protagonist is magnetically pushed toward the sea, which is still tame in the morning light. Just as his feet splash into the water and it looks as if he's about to let the ocean envelop him and take him away, he cuts a 90-degree angle and marches through the beach front, the camera turning with our protagonist, revealing a chorus of angels walking in unison with him, determined and hopeful. We can only see profiles, as if they have been beaten down to halves of once whole beings, divine or otherwise. As the stroll gets longer, our protagonist and the angels become more awake, seemingly gathering energy from their endeavor, never exhausting themselves. Our protagonist stops, sees something we cannot. He falls to his knees. The angels surround him, closing in him more with each note surpassing the group overhead. Our protagonist struggles with what will surely be his final decision in his life, but we know not what this decision is. Tears well up in his face, the angels dissemble in even flow, and he might never know if what he did was indeed the right thing. We never do.
18 "Leyendecker" Battles Mirrored [Warp]Moment @ 0:42
I like this record. I don't love it. It's fun to listen to and will mess with your head in the best way experimental melodic music can, but it never reaches down deep into your head or heart. It's more concerned with robotics than humanity, and I can't even fully support that. This track, however, was lifted into the light for me to see courtesy of a rap remix that I don't particularly like, but at least it brought Battles into a human tint for me. Ortiz raps on top of the creepy snaking guitar and awkward beat, "I don't know what you call this, hip hop, rock, I just know it feel good...and it's New York." I've only been to NYC once (a year ago), but I couldn't agree more. And it's not just that the place is awkward, creepy and snaking, and I am constantly worried about what's coming up next when I'm there, suffocated, and belittled by architecture. No, I also feel a profound appreciation for the behemoth city when I'm there - something that I know only become strengthened when you reside there, as a few of my close friends can attest to. It slides under your skin, becomes a part of you and your identity, it's unlike anything else ever created by man, to the point where you wonder if the city is living on its own, ready to attack or be your guiding light depending on its mood, your mood, and your neighbor's mood on any given day. It's surreal and still connected to me like living tissue.
17 "Sad Song" Au Revoir Simone The Bird of Music [Our Secret]"I want to remember the places that we left."
I hate it when unassuming songs with just a tinge of distinct personality ultimately come out flat and uninspired. With just a few tweaks on the melody, that's what could have happened with this song. And that's what makes it that much more powerful. It crawls into your ears with a beautiful set of layered keyboards and lilting multi-girl vocals, just soothing enough to calm you down, but as it approaches the chorus, it melts your torso into oblivion, reminding you of the power of suppression versus melodrama. There's nothing chaotic or exorbitant about this song, it's just pinched and perfected enough to make for the best song you could forget about so easily if you don't a) listen to the lyrics, b) watch the accompanying music video - link above, or c) listen on headphones absurdly loud. Plus you better catch those synthesized horns at the end, or David Lynch (the band's supposed #1 fan) will never dance with you. You know you want to hear a sad song, because we're all alone at various points in our lives, leaving only our memories to work in filling our minds. This song makes sure you can do that and still have a solitaire rock out party. Get your sad on.
16 "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" Okkervil River The Stage Names [Jagjaguwar]"She glows just like grain on the flickering pane of some great movie."
Okay, so I'm taking that quote out of context. He's talking about how there's no scene like that in the epic non-movie that is our life. But it's just my personal favorite of a ridiculous number of exquisitely crafted cinematic couplets. This is without a doubt the best lyrically written song of the year, with depressed passion, inescapable romanticism, desperate longing, and all at the cost of compulsively shredding vocal chords along the way. It's a harsh realization, waking up and realizing the lack of filmic qualities in our day-to-day anti-conflicts, fake resolutions, and bitter and regret-filled character developments. This isn't exactly the subtle understatement that is usually lauded for its simplicity and not needing hordes of attention called upon it, but it's the sound of a band not softly or silently walking away from or into a life they begrudgingly accept. No, this is the sound of hostile takeover by a crowd of youthful mavericks, refusing to see the light of day be extinguished by placidity. There must be a fight for that which does not exist. If we don't make a sound, how will we ever be heard? It's not about change, it's about calling out for it, even at the dimmest possibility of insurrection and climactic glory.
Next week: #s 15-11.
¶ posted by chris at 5:08 PM 2 comments
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Top 50 Songs of 2007 (#s 30-21)
30 "Snake Mistakes" Dan Deacon Spiderman of the Rings [Carpark]
"My dad is so cool / he is the coolest dad in dad school."
I, like so many others, have been interminably smitten by Deacon ever since I heard his twisted synthesizer and saw a photo of his wicked Fred Flintstone t-shirt. However, I did not know how unforgettable he would turn out to be until during his performance of this song the first time I saw him live, he screwed the song up halfway through, scolded himself for not knowing how to use his iPod shuffle correctly, and said "I'm not going to let this ruin it." He immediately got his sound back together, and the entire crowd was forgiving as hell - joining his exclamation and proclamation of never-ending fun, and partied even harder when the song came back together. I know it should be expected that musicians should not let slight screw-ups phase them on stage, but as you might know, Deacon refuses to use a stage on tour. His being down with a bunch of sweaty kids wearing bright clothing, screwing up at our level, let everyone coalesce so beautifully that I felt so much togetherness in the moment his crazy music flew back in my face and I started dancing my heart out all over again. See this man live and smile for the rest of your life.
29 "March Against the Savages" Lights Out Asia Tanks and Recognizers [N5MD]
"Save her."
Probably the only song on the countdown that was nowhere close to my radar for best songs of the year, but I kept listening to the album it was on over and over again, thinking "when am I going to fall in love with a song on here?" This band is responsible for my #1 song of 2003, which was also basically the reason I fell in love with instrumental music in the first place. Almost all of the songs on their new one has vocals, but I loved the singer's sparse placement and soaring quality, so that wasn't a problem. It was a beautiful and pleasant-sounding record, but no one track leaped out at me...until I stopped my car in the driveway one brisk fall afternoon and paid attention to this track's bassline, which doesn't even come in until the midway point. For an oeuvre that is so full of desolation and infinite black holes, the plucky uplifting bass part turns everything around just in time for the most gut-wrenching climax of a song whose rising action seems all pretty fluff for so long. Wait for it, the payoff is so worth it.
28 "Los Federales" Signal Hill EP [Self-Released]
Moment @ 0:56
Another unique situation for a song to get on the countdown: I made a random mix CD of instrumental tunes in the spring just to keep in my car for "mood music," i.e. a CD of language-less music to put in to calm myself down on overly stressful days. This song would always catch my ear whenever it came on, but I could never for the life of me place who it was by. But I never remembered when I got home to check my iTunes playlist to see who it was by or what it was called, for whatever reason. So I just kept hearing these perfect mid-tempo guitar ballets on days I wanted to escape the world into a void, and the balance of the shimmering, the neglected, and the embarrassed danced through my ears like flawless melodies across an open field of reckless abandon, and I always felt so completely at peace when the four-and-a-half minutes were up. But it took me forever to find out it was this little DIY California band, so understated they could go unnoticed by the whole world, and it seems like they'd be just fine with it, by the calm yet sad sounds of their instruments.
27 "Headup" Apparat Walls [Shitkatapult]
"I'm feeling better now."
The nectar of this song is bookended by such quietness that it really demands your full attention in order to grasp its brief and transcendent journey. One small distraction and that breathy ambient scream will come out of nowhere and you'll ask yourself, "why haven't I been listening more closely?" The trepidation of the piano and solemn jerkiness of the sequencer lead into an orgy of headphone-ear fornication as guest vocalist Raz gets buried in a whirlwind of candy-coated dust and static rattling off the attempts to escape a world of put downs and leave behinds. It becomes so filled with presence you begin to wonder what happened to that ignorable skittering beat and smooth croon at the beginning of the song. If there ever were to be an award for a song that metaphorically went from 0 to 60 in the quickest amount of time, it would definitely go to Mr. Apparat and his deftly honed skills that make sadtronica become more than a silly made-up genre by some kid who makes a long list of his favorite songs ever year.
26 "Little Bit of You in Everything" The Rentals The Last Little Life EP [Boompa]
"There's a little bit of you I keep with me."
People sure do complain a lot when a beloved musician starts making music they don't like anymore. So much so that I think it's often overshadowed when a beloved musician goes away, then comes back with material that was just as strong as "their old stuff." Matt Sharp didn't get the hype he deserved when he and his rented brethren returned this year with newly recorded songs full of the same clever Moog and heavenly female back-up vocals that made them an honorable Weezer offshoot in the mid-90s, but still with a distinct newly found direction - acceptance and smoothness in replace of resentment and business. It's so simple and comforting in fact, that it feels like (and this is so rare that when it happens, it's beyond rewarding) I've actually grown in step with a musician I've so deeply respected for numerous years. Matt was the goofy kid in 96, the depressed kid in 01, and now he's the mature and optimistic kid in 07. Let's keep this up, Matt, I'm with you all the way.
25 "Beautiful Life" Gui Boratto Chromophobia [Kompakt]
"It's a beautiful life."
It's never good when the first thing you read about a song before you even listen to it is that it will change your life. Woops, sorry if you haven't listened to this one yet. But at least I will expound upon the statement for you, unlike the unmentionable blogger who did the same to me. You see, I saw and heard the generic phrase "beautiful life" over and over again when reading about this supposedly revelatory track as I was listening to it for the first time. It lost meaning and relevance almost immediately and I never gave it another thought. Decent song with a bright and unique keyboard effect, but could have done without the Benigni-esque naivety or blindness. Then one day, of course grumpy and sick of the world, I go looking in my iTunes for a benign but long song to lull me into a much-desired after-work nap, and I find this. I actually remember verbally challenging this Brazilian to cheer me up with his circular vision of absolute completion of mind and body before I pressed play and closed my eyes. Turns out, when you're so angry that you put the music on too loud and try to sleep with sun still pouring through the slits of your blinds, Boratto's unadulterated and unfiltered take on life will turn you around quicker than any pep talk or motivational book ever could.
24 "Control" Kid Sister Control EP [Fool's Gold]
"Turn / Stop / No / Control."
I am usually a sucker for angsty girls spouting poppy rhymes over twisted production for approximately one month after I hear each for the first time (M.I.A., Lady Sovereign come to mind quickly), then I get tired of the shtick quick. That is of course until I heard this track by Kid Sister. She seems to be the only one putting the music in front of the issues or the reputation. Somehow I can imagine her actually putting her entire self into this song, tweaking every piece of delivery until it becomes a full-fledged masterful piece of hip-pop. The guy-girl exchange that sits atop the hand clap chorus flows in and out effortlessly, the squeaks and twists of her verses are molded with the utmost, err, control, and the airy bridge completes another summer song that could be put on repeat forever and I could never get sick of it. That's saying a lot for a list that lacks rhymes and turntables in over 95% of its contents.
23 "City of Echoes" Pelican City of Echoes [Hydra Head]
Moment @ 0:59
Regardless of totally not hardcore it is according the legions of people who have disassociated themselves with the Chicago instru-metal outfit over the year may claim, Pelican still balance the heavenly and the hellish better than anyone else. Unfortunately, I don't listen to music like it's an X-treme sport, so I cannot sympathize with this rabid group of black-clad darkness enthusiasts, so I'm one of the wusses left to enjoy Pelican in my argyle sweater in my semi-suburban condominium. Oh well. I am proud to say I can live with that outcome, because this song may just say everything perfectly about the balance between light and dark (us fans of all things medium might call it "gray") that good vs. evil stories have been trying to say with words for centuries. The journey from purity and innocence into a realm of unquestionable diabolism glides with such ease that when the pounding bass drum and rabid devil-worshiping distortion kick into high gear, it becomes a pleasure rather than an assault. Before you know it, you're realizing just how close opposites are to each other, as if they were born from the same womb.
22 "Ice Cream" Muscles Guns Babes Lemonade [Modular]
"I don't know how to react or if I should fight back."
How can one be so passionate about such a dumb topic? Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream as much as the next sane person, but I could never finagle enough brazen strength and courage to dedicate an entire song (and an anthemic and totally serious one at that!) to the food, much less anything edible. It seems wrong in so many ways, but this Australian manages to make it sound equally hokey and completely and effectively sincere in an almost completely synthesized song. It sounds like it should be a joke, but I swear it's not! From the apathetic breathing exercise that introduces and interrupts the song to the Ace of Base sirens in the chorus, you hear these gimmicks and want to dismiss them, but you can't, because he's constructed such a perfect way to express the notion of "screw the world I'm going to do what I want and what I want is ICE CREAM," that you cannot do anything but shout at the man along with him. It's mind-boggling.
21 "The Evil That Never Arrived" Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement of the Decline [Kranky]
Moment @ 0:55
I'll be the first to admit that ambient music isn't for everyone, and this is about as ambient as it gets on the list. There's seemingly nothing going on here except pretty yet menacing flourishes of computerized strings and synths, but the best part about the legendary Texan duo is their use of silence. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but if you seriously take a moment to take in this song with no other outside influences and you pay attention to the moments in this song where there is no sound, all of a sudden the sound that surrounds the silence becomes suspenseful. It becomes enchanting. It becomes otherworldly. It sucks you in and finally every other time you may have heard the word "minimal" and brushed it aside, you might just now rethink everything. This is what happens when we are left with close to nothing - we adapt and train ourselves how to enjoy the little that is there. Brian Eno, possibly the most famous ambient artist ever, said that ambient music has to be as engaging as it is ignorable - to do this is to fully realize and hear sound again for the first time, by stripping it away and starting again from square one.
Next week: #s 20-16. ¶ posted by chris at 6:33 PM 1 comments
30 "Snake Mistakes" Dan Deacon Spiderman of the Rings [Carpark]"My dad is so cool / he is the coolest dad in dad school."
I, like so many others, have been interminably smitten by Deacon ever since I heard his twisted synthesizer and saw a photo of his wicked Fred Flintstone t-shirt. However, I did not know how unforgettable he would turn out to be until during his performance of this song the first time I saw him live, he screwed the song up halfway through, scolded himself for not knowing how to use his iPod shuffle correctly, and said "I'm not going to let this ruin it." He immediately got his sound back together, and the entire crowd was forgiving as hell - joining his exclamation and proclamation of never-ending fun, and partied even harder when the song came back together. I know it should be expected that musicians should not let slight screw-ups phase them on stage, but as you might know, Deacon refuses to use a stage on tour. His being down with a bunch of sweaty kids wearing bright clothing, screwing up at our level, let everyone coalesce so beautifully that I felt so much togetherness in the moment his crazy music flew back in my face and I started dancing my heart out all over again. See this man live and smile for the rest of your life.
29 "March Against the Savages" Lights Out Asia Tanks and Recognizers [N5MD]"Save her."
Probably the only song on the countdown that was nowhere close to my radar for best songs of the year, but I kept listening to the album it was on over and over again, thinking "when am I going to fall in love with a song on here?" This band is responsible for my #1 song of 2003, which was also basically the reason I fell in love with instrumental music in the first place. Almost all of the songs on their new one has vocals, but I loved the singer's sparse placement and soaring quality, so that wasn't a problem. It was a beautiful and pleasant-sounding record, but no one track leaped out at me...until I stopped my car in the driveway one brisk fall afternoon and paid attention to this track's bassline, which doesn't even come in until the midway point. For an oeuvre that is so full of desolation and infinite black holes, the plucky uplifting bass part turns everything around just in time for the most gut-wrenching climax of a song whose rising action seems all pretty fluff for so long. Wait for it, the payoff is so worth it.
28 "Los Federales" Signal Hill EP [Self-Released]Moment @ 0:56
Another unique situation for a song to get on the countdown: I made a random mix CD of instrumental tunes in the spring just to keep in my car for "mood music," i.e. a CD of language-less music to put in to calm myself down on overly stressful days. This song would always catch my ear whenever it came on, but I could never for the life of me place who it was by. But I never remembered when I got home to check my iTunes playlist to see who it was by or what it was called, for whatever reason. So I just kept hearing these perfect mid-tempo guitar ballets on days I wanted to escape the world into a void, and the balance of the shimmering, the neglected, and the embarrassed danced through my ears like flawless melodies across an open field of reckless abandon, and I always felt so completely at peace when the four-and-a-half minutes were up. But it took me forever to find out it was this little DIY California band, so understated they could go unnoticed by the whole world, and it seems like they'd be just fine with it, by the calm yet sad sounds of their instruments.
27 "Headup" Apparat Walls [Shitkatapult]"I'm feeling better now."
The nectar of this song is bookended by such quietness that it really demands your full attention in order to grasp its brief and transcendent journey. One small distraction and that breathy ambient scream will come out of nowhere and you'll ask yourself, "why haven't I been listening more closely?" The trepidation of the piano and solemn jerkiness of the sequencer lead into an orgy of headphone-ear fornication as guest vocalist Raz gets buried in a whirlwind of candy-coated dust and static rattling off the attempts to escape a world of put downs and leave behinds. It becomes so filled with presence you begin to wonder what happened to that ignorable skittering beat and smooth croon at the beginning of the song. If there ever were to be an award for a song that metaphorically went from 0 to 60 in the quickest amount of time, it would definitely go to Mr. Apparat and his deftly honed skills that make sadtronica become more than a silly made-up genre by some kid who makes a long list of his favorite songs ever year.
26 "Little Bit of You in Everything" The Rentals The Last Little Life EP [Boompa]"There's a little bit of you I keep with me."
People sure do complain a lot when a beloved musician starts making music they don't like anymore. So much so that I think it's often overshadowed when a beloved musician goes away, then comes back with material that was just as strong as "their old stuff." Matt Sharp didn't get the hype he deserved when he and his rented brethren returned this year with newly recorded songs full of the same clever Moog and heavenly female back-up vocals that made them an honorable Weezer offshoot in the mid-90s, but still with a distinct newly found direction - acceptance and smoothness in replace of resentment and business. It's so simple and comforting in fact, that it feels like (and this is so rare that when it happens, it's beyond rewarding) I've actually grown in step with a musician I've so deeply respected for numerous years. Matt was the goofy kid in 96, the depressed kid in 01, and now he's the mature and optimistic kid in 07. Let's keep this up, Matt, I'm with you all the way.
25 "Beautiful Life" Gui Boratto Chromophobia [Kompakt]"It's a beautiful life."
It's never good when the first thing you read about a song before you even listen to it is that it will change your life. Woops, sorry if you haven't listened to this one yet. But at least I will expound upon the statement for you, unlike the unmentionable blogger who did the same to me. You see, I saw and heard the generic phrase "beautiful life" over and over again when reading about this supposedly revelatory track as I was listening to it for the first time. It lost meaning and relevance almost immediately and I never gave it another thought. Decent song with a bright and unique keyboard effect, but could have done without the Benigni-esque naivety or blindness. Then one day, of course grumpy and sick of the world, I go looking in my iTunes for a benign but long song to lull me into a much-desired after-work nap, and I find this. I actually remember verbally challenging this Brazilian to cheer me up with his circular vision of absolute completion of mind and body before I pressed play and closed my eyes. Turns out, when you're so angry that you put the music on too loud and try to sleep with sun still pouring through the slits of your blinds, Boratto's unadulterated and unfiltered take on life will turn you around quicker than any pep talk or motivational book ever could.
24 "Control" Kid Sister Control EP [Fool's Gold]"Turn / Stop / No / Control."
I am usually a sucker for angsty girls spouting poppy rhymes over twisted production for approximately one month after I hear each for the first time (M.I.A., Lady Sovereign come to mind quickly), then I get tired of the shtick quick. That is of course until I heard this track by Kid Sister. She seems to be the only one putting the music in front of the issues or the reputation. Somehow I can imagine her actually putting her entire self into this song, tweaking every piece of delivery until it becomes a full-fledged masterful piece of hip-pop. The guy-girl exchange that sits atop the hand clap chorus flows in and out effortlessly, the squeaks and twists of her verses are molded with the utmost, err, control, and the airy bridge completes another summer song that could be put on repeat forever and I could never get sick of it. That's saying a lot for a list that lacks rhymes and turntables in over 95% of its contents.
23 "City of Echoes" Pelican City of Echoes [Hydra Head]Moment @ 0:59
Regardless of totally not hardcore it is according the legions of people who have disassociated themselves with the Chicago instru-metal outfit over the year may claim, Pelican still balance the heavenly and the hellish better than anyone else. Unfortunately, I don't listen to music like it's an X-treme sport, so I cannot sympathize with this rabid group of black-clad darkness enthusiasts, so I'm one of the wusses left to enjoy Pelican in my argyle sweater in my semi-suburban condominium. Oh well. I am proud to say I can live with that outcome, because this song may just say everything perfectly about the balance between light and dark (us fans of all things medium might call it "gray") that good vs. evil stories have been trying to say with words for centuries. The journey from purity and innocence into a realm of unquestionable diabolism glides with such ease that when the pounding bass drum and rabid devil-worshiping distortion kick into high gear, it becomes a pleasure rather than an assault. Before you know it, you're realizing just how close opposites are to each other, as if they were born from the same womb.
22 "Ice Cream" Muscles Guns Babes Lemonade [Modular]"I don't know how to react or if I should fight back."
How can one be so passionate about such a dumb topic? Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream as much as the next sane person, but I could never finagle enough brazen strength and courage to dedicate an entire song (and an anthemic and totally serious one at that!) to the food, much less anything edible. It seems wrong in so many ways, but this Australian manages to make it sound equally hokey and completely and effectively sincere in an almost completely synthesized song. It sounds like it should be a joke, but I swear it's not! From the apathetic breathing exercise that introduces and interrupts the song to the Ace of Base sirens in the chorus, you hear these gimmicks and want to dismiss them, but you can't, because he's constructed such a perfect way to express the notion of "screw the world I'm going to do what I want and what I want is ICE CREAM," that you cannot do anything but shout at the man along with him. It's mind-boggling.
21 "The Evil That Never Arrived" Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement of the Decline [Kranky]Moment @ 0:55
I'll be the first to admit that ambient music isn't for everyone, and this is about as ambient as it gets on the list. There's seemingly nothing going on here except pretty yet menacing flourishes of computerized strings and synths, but the best part about the legendary Texan duo is their use of silence. I know how ridiculous that sounds, but if you seriously take a moment to take in this song with no other outside influences and you pay attention to the moments in this song where there is no sound, all of a sudden the sound that surrounds the silence becomes suspenseful. It becomes enchanting. It becomes otherworldly. It sucks you in and finally every other time you may have heard the word "minimal" and brushed it aside, you might just now rethink everything. This is what happens when we are left with close to nothing - we adapt and train ourselves how to enjoy the little that is there. Brian Eno, possibly the most famous ambient artist ever, said that ambient music has to be as engaging as it is ignorable - to do this is to fully realize and hear sound again for the first time, by stripping it away and starting again from square one.
Next week: #s 20-16. ¶ posted by chris at 6:33 PM 1 comments
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Top 50 Songs of 2007 (#s 40-31)
40 "Can I Get Get Get" Junior Senior Hey Hey My My Yo Yo [Rykodisc]
"I'm busy bee but I'm taking it easy."
I never thought a second Junior Senior album would hold up. I was skeptical to hear their new single after having the record finally released in the states after much delay, but they are just too sincere and genuine in making joyous pop music to pass up. Usually I let people have their opinions when it comes to sugary dance-pop (because I can often sympathize with the disgust), but if you can go through listening this whole song without smiling and/or bopping your head along, you might as well die now, because life has nothing to offer your kind. The scary thing is, there's no hyperbole there. That's how much I believe in this song. In fact, it's the epitome of the kind of song that is perfect for a wedding (Qualler and Brigitte's wedding to be exact), where you can hear it, jump out on the floor, forget all ambition, and just pump those cabbage patch arms like there's no tomorrow. Cuz there's not, there's only now.
39 "Confusing Possibilities" Six Parts Seven Casually Smashed to Pieces [Suicide Squeeze]
Moment @ 4:57
Ah the band that wrote the song Joe and I named our instrumental radio show after. They are still consistently writing the most relaxing instrumental guitar music on this blue world. Not only this, but if you let yourself get engaged by the charming melodies, they become characters playing in a scene together. In a moment of pause, the skittish pizzicato scurries away into the corner as the bully horns' shadows grow more ominous, the droopy slide mopes in the background, and the flighty harmonics finally overtake the youngsters with a boost of distorted bass to close out our story. There's so much going on in this modest yet epic tale, but it never clouds up the mind, always allowing for breathing room. Shut your eyes on a bright afternoon and listen to this song - surely a beautiful movie will project on the back of your eyelids.
38 "23" Blonde Redhead 23 [4AD]
"All things we love will die."
I fell in love with this song when I saw the stately trio play it live on Conan. Of course you will not be able to find this online, but if you ever see a Conan rerun with Blonde Redhead playing, watch it. When the drummer started programming Kazu's vocals and suddenly there were a sheet of "na-na-na"s buried into a wall of shoegaze entanglements as the frantic drumbeat spiraled out of control and there were still only three people on my TV screen, I practically lost my marbles. The mysticism, the detached anger, the existentialism, and the beleaguered acceptance all implode into a warped energy unheard of to these ears. Seeing and hearing but not believing while being unable to fall asleep at 12:35 in the morning on a weekday, I felt strangely okay and twitchy all at once. Definitely unforgettable.
37 "Backed Out on the..." Kevin Drew Spirit If... [Arts & Crafts]
"Everyone can write this song / they can't write you and me."
Did the subject of this song back out on the cause...or...did he/she back out on the cocks? This seems to be the topic of debate surrounding the lyrics of this song, and it's brilliant. It's two songs in one! Either it's a great proletarian Screw You song, demanding respect, loyalty, and passion amongst the people or it's a fantastic choral refuting of the male masculine identity in our society. Doesn't really matter, because there's one thing that this song obviously is - a party song. Once again, I didn't realize the genius of this song until I saw its corresponding video (linked above) and saw how much the guys from Broken Social Scene were having fun with Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis and a bunch of other crazies just by rocking out. And this is some rocking out that defies categorization - if you love guitar solos, it's for you. If you hate guitar solos, Mascis is the man to change your mind about it. And if you love loudness, this is for you, and if you loathe loudness, this is one song that makes you want to shout with glee "YOU CANNOT WRITE ME!"
36 "Tournament of Hearts" The Weakerthans Reunion Tour [Epitaph]
"Why can't I ever stop where I want to stay?"
Nasally singing can get to me, and yet I could listen to John K. Sampson's wheeze away for the rest of time and enjoy every second of it. It's because his whine is exploding with a tremendous kind of hope - one that is full of despair and yet still infinitely caring for every human being on the planet. It's not a one man guilt show with The Weakerthans, it's about finding the power in feeling down. This is probably way more emo than a little rant on a pop-rock song should be, but the fact is that this song is not only another perfect gem in the catalog of a near-perfect band, but it's the homonym of "right off" and "write off" followed by a heart-pounding "no never never ever ever" every time. It brings me back into a state of patience and allowing life flow into me like it's only just begun. This is how much a song can save my life.
35 "It's O.K." Howard Hello Howard Hello & Greenness [Sickroom]
"It's all right / I'll go / tonight will be no more."
Ever since my obsession with instrumental music began, I've become even more engrossed by instrumental songs that just happen to have lyrics. This sounds ridiculous, I'm well aware, but hear me out. Instrumental songs exist to exude a progression of feeling, a tone, a unique orchestrated set of abstractions while songs with lyrics try to say something to the listener. So when a song with lyrics tries to do what most instrumental songs succeed at without trying to directly tell a story, bring a message, or even a set of symbols, it's breathtakingly refreshing. All you feel when you listen to this song is both a tone and a story: rejection (the blow to the head intro), followed by frantic self doubt (the overlapping voices and off-kilter wandering), finally resulting in nervous acceptance followed by a deep breath (rising blissful instrumentation).
34 "Part 1 (Movement 4)" The Bird Ensemble Migration [Self-Released]
Moment @ 4:25
Speaking of non-instrumental instrumental bands, The Appleseed Cast surely would rank up there if they didn't so explicitly tell stories/produce linguistic images in their lyrics. And here we finally have the instrumental Appleseed Cast in The Bird Ensemble. Guitars that sparkle beyond eternity in earnest, yelping layers. Crashing drums that could be at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and still be heard like the marching in of angels on Earth. It's cacophonous and heavenly at the same time, and it swells with such confidence and shine that it feels like it literally is a sound from up above, except distilled through a DIY band in a Tennessee basement with only average recording equipment. And yet, it's almost better that way, because it feels like gods interacting with the common man, becoming sprightly rather than overly dramatic, cherubic rather than mighty.
33 "Summersend" Misha Teardrop Sweetheart [Tomlab]
"When you love someone / you wait for them too."
I am just now realizing that it might not be about sending love to someone on a summer's day from far away, but the more likely interpretation of the compounded title is the end of a summer's romance. So many double meanings in the countdown! The summer romance angle might seem played out, but this delightful bubbly tune knows how to tweak it just right: in one version of the story in my head, a boy is waiting for his girl while counting dandelions in the grass as the sun beats down on his back, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she's actually coming and this absence isn't the beginning of the end. In another, they are separating ways on the last day of the summer, planning to wait for each other, but they've already started missing each other, and thus have already started the waiting process. Is this the end or has the end already begun? If they never get together, at least they will have known they waited, and thus, they have truly loved. The shy vocals overcoming their tininess is only the icing on the cake.
32 "Woozy With Cider" James Yorkston The Year of the Leopard [Domino]
"And I'll be happy because we won't be taking anything too seriously."
This is the problem with the word "pretentious." Someone hears a Scottish guy mumbles over a melodica and a dramatic keyboard lilt without actually listening and suddenly they're a poster child for melodrama. As if people couldn't be deathly serious and still have a light attitude toward life. I think that the people that truly do "serious" music the best are most comfortable with the silliness of life. It's the people that find too much comedy and absurdity in life that have anxiety and depression issues. They're the ones that are consistently uncomfortable in their own skin. When you get get relaxed, stay relaxed, and appreciate the unsteadiness of life, and communicate it artfully or overtly when you're over thinking on a rainy day, then you've achieved nirvana. Yorkston did with a couple electronic loops and a stream of consciousness of images and memories and conversations with loved one - it just takes a little time and open-mindedness to let go and still stay real.
31 "I Am John" Loney, Dear Loney, Noir [Sub Pop]
"Got a heart full of plans but nowhere to run."
And here we go with the first song on the countdown that has made me cry. I could have sworn there was a song before this one, but here we are all the way at #31 and no tears. Amazing, considering how I used to be called "Captain Emo" an inappropriate amount of times...in public. Nevertheless, the first time I listened to this song on headphones and heard the sobbing snare drum and childlike xylophone/clarinet duet getting louder and louder, I started feeling (sigh) emotion build up inside me like no one's business. Then when he goes into that piercing falsetto at about 2:14, my jaw trembles, my heart opens up, and puppies and flowers burst out of it onto the floor, flooded with eye juice pouring out of my sockets. I feel like my metaphorical clothes are shedding, leaving me metaphorically naked on a dirty city street at sunrise, left completely vulnerable and surprised that the damn song ends so damn early. "Someone fix me," I scream, and there's no one there but Johnny, and I'm there for him.
Next week: we continue with #s 30-21. ¶ posted by chris at 2:42 PM 1 comments
40 "Can I Get Get Get" Junior Senior Hey Hey My My Yo Yo [Rykodisc]"I'm busy bee but I'm taking it easy."
I never thought a second Junior Senior album would hold up. I was skeptical to hear their new single after having the record finally released in the states after much delay, but they are just too sincere and genuine in making joyous pop music to pass up. Usually I let people have their opinions when it comes to sugary dance-pop (because I can often sympathize with the disgust), but if you can go through listening this whole song without smiling and/or bopping your head along, you might as well die now, because life has nothing to offer your kind. The scary thing is, there's no hyperbole there. That's how much I believe in this song. In fact, it's the epitome of the kind of song that is perfect for a wedding (Qualler and Brigitte's wedding to be exact), where you can hear it, jump out on the floor, forget all ambition, and just pump those cabbage patch arms like there's no tomorrow. Cuz there's not, there's only now.
39 "Confusing Possibilities" Six Parts Seven Casually Smashed to Pieces [Suicide Squeeze]Moment @ 4:57
Ah the band that wrote the song Joe and I named our instrumental radio show after. They are still consistently writing the most relaxing instrumental guitar music on this blue world. Not only this, but if you let yourself get engaged by the charming melodies, they become characters playing in a scene together. In a moment of pause, the skittish pizzicato scurries away into the corner as the bully horns' shadows grow more ominous, the droopy slide mopes in the background, and the flighty harmonics finally overtake the youngsters with a boost of distorted bass to close out our story. There's so much going on in this modest yet epic tale, but it never clouds up the mind, always allowing for breathing room. Shut your eyes on a bright afternoon and listen to this song - surely a beautiful movie will project on the back of your eyelids.
38 "23" Blonde Redhead 23 [4AD]"All things we love will die."
I fell in love with this song when I saw the stately trio play it live on Conan. Of course you will not be able to find this online, but if you ever see a Conan rerun with Blonde Redhead playing, watch it. When the drummer started programming Kazu's vocals and suddenly there were a sheet of "na-na-na"s buried into a wall of shoegaze entanglements as the frantic drumbeat spiraled out of control and there were still only three people on my TV screen, I practically lost my marbles. The mysticism, the detached anger, the existentialism, and the beleaguered acceptance all implode into a warped energy unheard of to these ears. Seeing and hearing but not believing while being unable to fall asleep at 12:35 in the morning on a weekday, I felt strangely okay and twitchy all at once. Definitely unforgettable.
37 "Backed Out on the..." Kevin Drew Spirit If... [Arts & Crafts]"Everyone can write this song / they can't write you and me."
Did the subject of this song back out on the cause...or...did he/she back out on the cocks? This seems to be the topic of debate surrounding the lyrics of this song, and it's brilliant. It's two songs in one! Either it's a great proletarian Screw You song, demanding respect, loyalty, and passion amongst the people or it's a fantastic choral refuting of the male masculine identity in our society. Doesn't really matter, because there's one thing that this song obviously is - a party song. Once again, I didn't realize the genius of this song until I saw its corresponding video (linked above) and saw how much the guys from Broken Social Scene were having fun with Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis and a bunch of other crazies just by rocking out. And this is some rocking out that defies categorization - if you love guitar solos, it's for you. If you hate guitar solos, Mascis is the man to change your mind about it. And if you love loudness, this is for you, and if you loathe loudness, this is one song that makes you want to shout with glee "YOU CANNOT WRITE ME!"
36 "Tournament of Hearts" The Weakerthans Reunion Tour [Epitaph]"Why can't I ever stop where I want to stay?"
Nasally singing can get to me, and yet I could listen to John K. Sampson's wheeze away for the rest of time and enjoy every second of it. It's because his whine is exploding with a tremendous kind of hope - one that is full of despair and yet still infinitely caring for every human being on the planet. It's not a one man guilt show with The Weakerthans, it's about finding the power in feeling down. This is probably way more emo than a little rant on a pop-rock song should be, but the fact is that this song is not only another perfect gem in the catalog of a near-perfect band, but it's the homonym of "right off" and "write off" followed by a heart-pounding "no never never ever ever" every time. It brings me back into a state of patience and allowing life flow into me like it's only just begun. This is how much a song can save my life.
35 "It's O.K." Howard Hello Howard Hello & Greenness [Sickroom]"It's all right / I'll go / tonight will be no more."
Ever since my obsession with instrumental music began, I've become even more engrossed by instrumental songs that just happen to have lyrics. This sounds ridiculous, I'm well aware, but hear me out. Instrumental songs exist to exude a progression of feeling, a tone, a unique orchestrated set of abstractions while songs with lyrics try to say something to the listener. So when a song with lyrics tries to do what most instrumental songs succeed at without trying to directly tell a story, bring a message, or even a set of symbols, it's breathtakingly refreshing. All you feel when you listen to this song is both a tone and a story: rejection (the blow to the head intro), followed by frantic self doubt (the overlapping voices and off-kilter wandering), finally resulting in nervous acceptance followed by a deep breath (rising blissful instrumentation).
34 "Part 1 (Movement 4)" The Bird Ensemble Migration [Self-Released]Moment @ 4:25
Speaking of non-instrumental instrumental bands, The Appleseed Cast surely would rank up there if they didn't so explicitly tell stories/produce linguistic images in their lyrics. And here we finally have the instrumental Appleseed Cast in The Bird Ensemble. Guitars that sparkle beyond eternity in earnest, yelping layers. Crashing drums that could be at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and still be heard like the marching in of angels on Earth. It's cacophonous and heavenly at the same time, and it swells with such confidence and shine that it feels like it literally is a sound from up above, except distilled through a DIY band in a Tennessee basement with only average recording equipment. And yet, it's almost better that way, because it feels like gods interacting with the common man, becoming sprightly rather than overly dramatic, cherubic rather than mighty.
33 "Summersend" Misha Teardrop Sweetheart [Tomlab]"When you love someone / you wait for them too."
I am just now realizing that it might not be about sending love to someone on a summer's day from far away, but the more likely interpretation of the compounded title is the end of a summer's romance. So many double meanings in the countdown! The summer romance angle might seem played out, but this delightful bubbly tune knows how to tweak it just right: in one version of the story in my head, a boy is waiting for his girl while counting dandelions in the grass as the sun beats down on his back, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she's actually coming and this absence isn't the beginning of the end. In another, they are separating ways on the last day of the summer, planning to wait for each other, but they've already started missing each other, and thus have already started the waiting process. Is this the end or has the end already begun? If they never get together, at least they will have known they waited, and thus, they have truly loved. The shy vocals overcoming their tininess is only the icing on the cake.
32 "Woozy With Cider" James Yorkston The Year of the Leopard [Domino]"And I'll be happy because we won't be taking anything too seriously."
This is the problem with the word "pretentious." Someone hears a Scottish guy mumbles over a melodica and a dramatic keyboard lilt without actually listening and suddenly they're a poster child for melodrama. As if people couldn't be deathly serious and still have a light attitude toward life. I think that the people that truly do "serious" music the best are most comfortable with the silliness of life. It's the people that find too much comedy and absurdity in life that have anxiety and depression issues. They're the ones that are consistently uncomfortable in their own skin. When you get get relaxed, stay relaxed, and appreciate the unsteadiness of life, and communicate it artfully or overtly when you're over thinking on a rainy day, then you've achieved nirvana. Yorkston did with a couple electronic loops and a stream of consciousness of images and memories and conversations with loved one - it just takes a little time and open-mindedness to let go and still stay real.
31 "I Am John" Loney, Dear Loney, Noir [Sub Pop]"Got a heart full of plans but nowhere to run."
And here we go with the first song on the countdown that has made me cry. I could have sworn there was a song before this one, but here we are all the way at #31 and no tears. Amazing, considering how I used to be called "Captain Emo" an inappropriate amount of times...in public. Nevertheless, the first time I listened to this song on headphones and heard the sobbing snare drum and childlike xylophone/clarinet duet getting louder and louder, I started feeling (sigh) emotion build up inside me like no one's business. Then when he goes into that piercing falsetto at about 2:14, my jaw trembles, my heart opens up, and puppies and flowers burst out of it onto the floor, flooded with eye juice pouring out of my sockets. I feel like my metaphorical clothes are shedding, leaving me metaphorically naked on a dirty city street at sunrise, left completely vulnerable and surprised that the damn song ends so damn early. "Someone fix me," I scream, and there's no one there but Johnny, and I'm there for him.
Next week: we continue with #s 30-21. ¶ posted by chris at 2:42 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Top 50 Songs of 2007 (#s 50-41)
50 "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? [Polyvinyl]
"My mind rejects the frequency / it's just verbosity to me."
With their third song landing on a yearly countdown of mine (after "Your Magic is Working" and "So Begins Our Alabee"), Of Montreal have very sneakily become a staple in my life. They are consistent, prolific, and somehow still manage to top themselves in ridiculousness with every new album they put out. Without even mentioning the killer sugary keyboard swoops and skittery-to-the-max synthetic drum freakouts, there is an even bigger highlight. This song has one of those choruses that manages to flow so smoothly and unforgettably that it all goes by in the blink of an eye. The first time I heard this song I knew I was once again smitten with the wackiness of Kevin Barnes and his troupe of bubbly noisemakers.
49 "From Nothing to Nowhere" Pinback Autumn of the Seraphs [Touch & Go]
"Revision / Ray of vision / ray vision / cosign my letter."
Who knows what he's actually saying when this song gets pumping into action. Who cares. The fact is that it's Pinback (formerly on a countdown with "Fortress") masterly weaving countless plucky guitar melodies and cherubic angsty vocal harmonies together until it resembles the most complicated musical knot that anyone can untangle by just pulling one string at a time. Depending on what singer and/or instrument you're listening to, the song can mean anything from "I feel superhuman" to "I feel like a failure," or both. The fact that some genius with too much time on his hands synced this song up to the dancing scene from The Breakfast Club only makes the dichotomy of the song's power and meaning that much stronger. When else do you feel powerless and unstoppable? When you're a teenager.
48 "Reciting the Airships" Eluvium Copia [Temporary Residence]
Moment @ 0:23
I've always been interested in the keyboard, but no one artist has ever reinvigorated my interest in the traditional piano like Eluvium has. How his melodies are so simple yet so captivating and devastating is beyond me. This song in particular breathes like a cold winter sunset, expertly descending from its inception into a bed of airy strings only to climb ever so softly into a cloudy oblivion. Crumpled paper, creaking chairs, and swirled synths soon enter the picture and by that point, you're on a different planet, experiencing this song like you experience a sad memory that you're happy you still have, and will hopefully never let go.
47 "Oh Ana" Mother Mother Touch Up [Last Gang]
"I'll be God today / hold my head under that bath and breath away."
I have no idea how a band that recalls both Wheatus (the voice) and Primus (the spastic bass) made such a perfect song, but they did. The lightning-speed acoustic guitar is just another reason why this song should not work at all, but it's also the morose backbone for a great first-person perspective story that unfolds like some cross between a nightmare and the biggest drama your closest group of friends has ever undergone, testing relationships, boundaries, and how far one's willing to go without knowing why they are willing to go so far. It's the ultimate testament to feeling your life spinning out of control, having no choice but to let it spin violently and unconscionably until you had to settle for realizing the errors of your ways until it's too late.
46 "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (Mirage Remix)" Indeep After Dark [Italians Do it Better]
"And if it wasn't for the music..."
Turns out the original version of this song is older than dirt - actually it was first released in 1983, the year I was born. If I knew this before I put this remix on the countdown, I probably would have disqualified it. But it's too late now as I always vow to never change the list after it's finalized and the playlist is burned to CD. I seriously thought this was just another Italian post-retro-disco-punk song on a compilation full of modern acts like Glass Candy and Chromatics, remixed by another modern post-retro-disco-punk artist, but it was just a post-disco band that had a modest hit that even Mariah Carey covered at one point. How postmodern of a world do we live in when a remix can make a song from 1983 sound like it just came out in 2007? Absolutely crazy, but regardless, you need to watch the TV performance of the original (hyperlinked above) and watch that bass player, who also plays the character of the DJ in the song. Pitch perfect in every possible way.
45 "With Friends Like These" Aqueduct Or Give Me Death [Barsuk]
"Who needs friends like these..."
I'm going to be brutally honest. And so should you. No friendship I think is complete (anomalies exist, I will admit) without a moment where your eyes just bug out and you think to yourself, "whyyyy????" This is how friendships work, whether we like them to or not. If you're a close friend of mine, I've probably been mad/bewildered/confused/upset with you at some point in time to the Nth degree and vice versa. Everyone talks about how beautiful their friends are or why can't we be friends or what have you, but no one points out this very important facet of deep intimate friendships. You care about people, and just like lovers and family members, you're going to writhe them sometimes for whatever reason - they talked behind you behind your back, they dated someone that is a total douche, or they just ditched you when they promised to hang out with you. It's these kinds of deep hatreds that keep friends together and let people connect with each other and realize how much they love their friends in the first place.
44 "Drop Me Off" Pela Anytown Graffiti [Great Society]
"You are the fortunate one in this song."
Powerful voices seem to be rarity to me. Lyrical or instrumental intensity tends to usually pack the greater punch and the degree to which a singer actually utilizes their vocal chords doesn't often factor into my love for a song. The simplistic yet effective sparkling-turned-aggressive guitars and concentrating and rising drum work certainly complement Pela's vocalist, but it is the sweat and strength in the voice of Billy McCarthy that makes me hit the steering wheel at every chorus and my heart tremble as he breaks into falsetto at the climax/outro. Taking on all the pain that should be spread across two people into his one throat and becoming possessed by melancholic demons of solitude, McCarthy spews out enough emotional breakdown ecstasy for an entire room full of broken hearts. The listeners is indeed the fortunate one in this song.
43 "Panic Attack" Tunturia Maps [RCD]
Moment @ 2:27
I don't believe I've ever had a panic attack, but the closest I ever got to having one I believe was right before I, in a daze, took off driving in my car late at night and had this song (and the rest of the album for that matter) blasting through the stereo. I don't even think I knew this song was called "Panic Attack" when, after the unnamed incident, I shoved this CD into the play and this, the opening track, came tumbling out of the speakers as I sped angrily/confusedly through the pitch blackness. It's the feeling of being rushed, being crowded, being shoved into a place where nothing could ever feel right in a million years, and where no matter how far or how fast you drive away, you never feel more than an inch removed from unpleasantness. And all the while, I would have never wanted any other sound to graced my consciousness than this song, full of the best nervous guitar riff ever, taunting drums poking and prodding at your inflating sense of self, and the simultaneously noisiest and most graceful comedowns in between all the senseless mayhem.
42 "The Piano" PJ Harvey White Chalk [Island]
"Nobody's listening."
Singer-songwriters have never been my bag. Luckily, PJ Harvey knows that stamping your birth name on your music doesn't imply that you have to be subtle, modest, or boring. Ghost stories tend to come up a few times in the countdown this year, but this is probably the one ghost story on the list that actually sounds like a ghost story - creepy pitter patter percussion, lurking-in-the-next-room thumb piano loops, and even a respite for a keyboard that sounds like a dead child playing with its dusty toys from an ancient past. Oh and of course there's PJ's howling wail that anchors the multi-layered piece, desperately calling for peace when war has already broke out between four souls - the killer, the killed, and the shaking witnesses: mommy and daddy. Never has a song been able to give me the shivers, nightmares, and sounded so beautiful. Here's to realizing that music can be scary and enjoyable at the same time.
41 "The Opposite of Hallelujah" Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala [Secretly Canadian]
"I picked up a seashell / to illustrate my homelessness / but a crab crawled out of it / making it useless."
Also a theme on the countdown are songs that were played at what was quite certainly the event of the year (hell, probably of the past 4 years), Qualler and Brigitte's wedding. Sometimes it's infuriating when bright happy pop songs have depressing lyrics, but Lekman knows how to be depressed, find the humor in it, and make a funner-than-thou song about it all. It's a win-win-win situation. No matter how you feel about weddings, when this song came on, even if you didn't know how to dance to it, you wanted to. This marked the beginning of songs that most of the crowd didn't know, but kept the crowd in the mood of celebration nonetheless. All of a sudden everyone (yours truly included of course) dipped with every tambourine hit and smiles abounded every time the strings came in, and partners took arms with each other when the ukulele bumbles in like a cartoon broom sweeping up the joint. It was remarkably glorious, like the final scene in Rushmore, everyone being together, loving the togetherness of it all, and feeling pure joy in the moment, regardless of anyone's feelings before they walked onto that dance floor, depressed or not.
Next week: the countdown continues with #s 40-31.
¶ posted by chris at 2:16 PM 0 comments
50 "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? [Polyvinyl]"My mind rejects the frequency / it's just verbosity to me."
With their third song landing on a yearly countdown of mine (after "Your Magic is Working" and "So Begins Our Alabee"), Of Montreal have very sneakily become a staple in my life. They are consistent, prolific, and somehow still manage to top themselves in ridiculousness with every new album they put out. Without even mentioning the killer sugary keyboard swoops and skittery-to-the-max synthetic drum freakouts, there is an even bigger highlight. This song has one of those choruses that manages to flow so smoothly and unforgettably that it all goes by in the blink of an eye. The first time I heard this song I knew I was once again smitten with the wackiness of Kevin Barnes and his troupe of bubbly noisemakers.
49 "From Nothing to Nowhere" Pinback Autumn of the Seraphs [Touch & Go]"Revision / Ray of vision / ray vision / cosign my letter."
Who knows what he's actually saying when this song gets pumping into action. Who cares. The fact is that it's Pinback (formerly on a countdown with "Fortress") masterly weaving countless plucky guitar melodies and cherubic angsty vocal harmonies together until it resembles the most complicated musical knot that anyone can untangle by just pulling one string at a time. Depending on what singer and/or instrument you're listening to, the song can mean anything from "I feel superhuman" to "I feel like a failure," or both. The fact that some genius with too much time on his hands synced this song up to the dancing scene from The Breakfast Club only makes the dichotomy of the song's power and meaning that much stronger. When else do you feel powerless and unstoppable? When you're a teenager.
48 "Reciting the Airships" Eluvium Copia [Temporary Residence]Moment @ 0:23
I've always been interested in the keyboard, but no one artist has ever reinvigorated my interest in the traditional piano like Eluvium has. How his melodies are so simple yet so captivating and devastating is beyond me. This song in particular breathes like a cold winter sunset, expertly descending from its inception into a bed of airy strings only to climb ever so softly into a cloudy oblivion. Crumpled paper, creaking chairs, and swirled synths soon enter the picture and by that point, you're on a different planet, experiencing this song like you experience a sad memory that you're happy you still have, and will hopefully never let go.
47 "Oh Ana" Mother Mother Touch Up [Last Gang]"I'll be God today / hold my head under that bath and breath away."
I have no idea how a band that recalls both Wheatus (the voice) and Primus (the spastic bass) made such a perfect song, but they did. The lightning-speed acoustic guitar is just another reason why this song should not work at all, but it's also the morose backbone for a great first-person perspective story that unfolds like some cross between a nightmare and the biggest drama your closest group of friends has ever undergone, testing relationships, boundaries, and how far one's willing to go without knowing why they are willing to go so far. It's the ultimate testament to feeling your life spinning out of control, having no choice but to let it spin violently and unconscionably until you had to settle for realizing the errors of your ways until it's too late.
46 "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (Mirage Remix)" Indeep After Dark [Italians Do it Better]"And if it wasn't for the music..."
Turns out the original version of this song is older than dirt - actually it was first released in 1983, the year I was born. If I knew this before I put this remix on the countdown, I probably would have disqualified it. But it's too late now as I always vow to never change the list after it's finalized and the playlist is burned to CD. I seriously thought this was just another Italian post-retro-disco-punk song on a compilation full of modern acts like Glass Candy and Chromatics, remixed by another modern post-retro-disco-punk artist, but it was just a post-disco band that had a modest hit that even Mariah Carey covered at one point. How postmodern of a world do we live in when a remix can make a song from 1983 sound like it just came out in 2007? Absolutely crazy, but regardless, you need to watch the TV performance of the original (hyperlinked above) and watch that bass player, who also plays the character of the DJ in the song. Pitch perfect in every possible way.
45 "With Friends Like These" Aqueduct Or Give Me Death [Barsuk]"Who needs friends like these..."
I'm going to be brutally honest. And so should you. No friendship I think is complete (anomalies exist, I will admit) without a moment where your eyes just bug out and you think to yourself, "whyyyy????" This is how friendships work, whether we like them to or not. If you're a close friend of mine, I've probably been mad/bewildered/confused/upset with you at some point in time to the Nth degree and vice versa. Everyone talks about how beautiful their friends are or why can't we be friends or what have you, but no one points out this very important facet of deep intimate friendships. You care about people, and just like lovers and family members, you're going to writhe them sometimes for whatever reason - they talked behind you behind your back, they dated someone that is a total douche, or they just ditched you when they promised to hang out with you. It's these kinds of deep hatreds that keep friends together and let people connect with each other and realize how much they love their friends in the first place.
44 "Drop Me Off" Pela Anytown Graffiti [Great Society]"You are the fortunate one in this song."
Powerful voices seem to be rarity to me. Lyrical or instrumental intensity tends to usually pack the greater punch and the degree to which a singer actually utilizes their vocal chords doesn't often factor into my love for a song. The simplistic yet effective sparkling-turned-aggressive guitars and concentrating and rising drum work certainly complement Pela's vocalist, but it is the sweat and strength in the voice of Billy McCarthy that makes me hit the steering wheel at every chorus and my heart tremble as he breaks into falsetto at the climax/outro. Taking on all the pain that should be spread across two people into his one throat and becoming possessed by melancholic demons of solitude, McCarthy spews out enough emotional breakdown ecstasy for an entire room full of broken hearts. The listeners is indeed the fortunate one in this song.
43 "Panic Attack" Tunturia Maps [RCD]Moment @ 2:27
I don't believe I've ever had a panic attack, but the closest I ever got to having one I believe was right before I, in a daze, took off driving in my car late at night and had this song (and the rest of the album for that matter) blasting through the stereo. I don't even think I knew this song was called "Panic Attack" when, after the unnamed incident, I shoved this CD into the play and this, the opening track, came tumbling out of the speakers as I sped angrily/confusedly through the pitch blackness. It's the feeling of being rushed, being crowded, being shoved into a place where nothing could ever feel right in a million years, and where no matter how far or how fast you drive away, you never feel more than an inch removed from unpleasantness. And all the while, I would have never wanted any other sound to graced my consciousness than this song, full of the best nervous guitar riff ever, taunting drums poking and prodding at your inflating sense of self, and the simultaneously noisiest and most graceful comedowns in between all the senseless mayhem.
42 "The Piano" PJ Harvey White Chalk [Island]"Nobody's listening."
Singer-songwriters have never been my bag. Luckily, PJ Harvey knows that stamping your birth name on your music doesn't imply that you have to be subtle, modest, or boring. Ghost stories tend to come up a few times in the countdown this year, but this is probably the one ghost story on the list that actually sounds like a ghost story - creepy pitter patter percussion, lurking-in-the-next-room thumb piano loops, and even a respite for a keyboard that sounds like a dead child playing with its dusty toys from an ancient past. Oh and of course there's PJ's howling wail that anchors the multi-layered piece, desperately calling for peace when war has already broke out between four souls - the killer, the killed, and the shaking witnesses: mommy and daddy. Never has a song been able to give me the shivers, nightmares, and sounded so beautiful. Here's to realizing that music can be scary and enjoyable at the same time.
41 "The Opposite of Hallelujah" Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala [Secretly Canadian]"I picked up a seashell / to illustrate my homelessness / but a crab crawled out of it / making it useless."
Also a theme on the countdown are songs that were played at what was quite certainly the event of the year (hell, probably of the past 4 years), Qualler and Brigitte's wedding. Sometimes it's infuriating when bright happy pop songs have depressing lyrics, but Lekman knows how to be depressed, find the humor in it, and make a funner-than-thou song about it all. It's a win-win-win situation. No matter how you feel about weddings, when this song came on, even if you didn't know how to dance to it, you wanted to. This marked the beginning of songs that most of the crowd didn't know, but kept the crowd in the mood of celebration nonetheless. All of a sudden everyone (yours truly included of course) dipped with every tambourine hit and smiles abounded every time the strings came in, and partners took arms with each other when the ukulele bumbles in like a cartoon broom sweeping up the joint. It was remarkably glorious, like the final scene in Rushmore, everyone being together, loving the togetherness of it all, and feeling pure joy in the moment, regardless of anyone's feelings before they walked onto that dance floor, depressed or not.
Next week: the countdown continues with #s 40-31.
¶ posted by chris at 2:16 PM 0 comments
